gramps/RELEASE_NOTES

$Id$

Gramps 4.0.0, the "The Miracle of Birth", release.

This is a major release, don't upgrade before verifying your system can run it.
As one of the very first big ($5.4 million), multi-platform (Linux, 
Windows, Mac OS X, ...), non-Gnome GTK applications, Gramps makes the 
jump to GTK 3. At the same time python 2.7 and python 3 are supported, 
though the last must still be considered experimental. Gramps 4.0 
further uses distutils for distribution, so the install sequence is changed.
The Gramps developers have tried to make Gramps 4.0 as identical as 
possible to 3.4, so no data changes are done, nor are there big interface 
changes. In other words, a .gramps backup file of version 4.0 will open 
without problems in Gramps 3.4, giving users the possibility to fully try Gramps 4.0.
Don't be mistaken though, a huge amount of code is new and changed! 
In order to bring this release we thank the many developers who helped 
the GTK support on Mac, Windows and Linux forward. Note however, 
Gramps 4.0 will only work on a top of a very recent sortware stack. 
A Windows installer will probably not be available soon. In Linux current 
distro's don't contain the optional packages in the form Gramps 4.0 needs. 
All this should make clear you can safely keep using version 3.4 and wait 
for packagers to catch up. People who cannot upgrade the required components 
but want to use Gramps 4.0 should use it in Virtualbox.

Major enhancements in Gramps 4.0.0:

* GEP 8: code reorganization: 
http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_008:_File_Organization

* GEP 26: Replace make: 
http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_026:_Replace_%27make%27_for_Gramps_build

* GEP 29: Gtk 3: 
http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_029:_GTK3-GObject_introspection_Conversion

* GEP 31: Python 3 support: 
http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=GEPS_031:_Python_3_support

* Completely reworked localization handling

Others changes in Gramps 4.0.0:

* The Gramplet view has been renamed Dashboard. This to avoid an overload 
of the word Gramplet, and to make it more clear to new users what can 
be expected in this view

* GTK 3 uses new themes, so users not on Gnome must set a nice GTK 3 
theme to fully appreciate Gramps 4.0. Install a GTK 3 theme and set it. 
If Gramps looks ugly, you made an error in this step.

* Different sidebar navigators can be installed

* New Ancestor Fan Chart View and Descendant Fan Chart View, which offer 
a lot of insight in your family tree on a small space. Direct printing 
is available from these views.

* All wizards are reworked, so the exporter dialog, help and bug report 
dialog are different from version 3.4, but offer the same functions

* New To Do Gramplets listing all To Do Notes

* More reports support output in a different language than the interface language

* Narrative Web has been reworked to make it more stable.

More info in the manual 
http://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gramps_4.0_Wiki_Manual_-_What%27s_new%3F

Everybody is invited to update the manual to make it current!